The Official "I spilled liquid in my MacBook, what do I do now?" Thread

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Spilled about 3 ml of coffee on my Macbook pro 2017 speaker grills

I accidently spilled some coffee liquid (flat white) on my Macbook pro 2017 Touchbar, luckily I had a keyboard cover which protected the keyboard, but some fell on the speakers grill (on the right side) I cleaned it right away with my fingers and napkins then put a napkin on the speakers grills, closed the lid and put the macbook upside down so it can be drained somehow with gravity, I think the napkin was very very slightly wet that it can barely be noticed after I removed it, then put a new napkin again and left it upside down till I reached home 2-3 hours later, I removed the napkin it was dry and I used a vaccum cleaner 5-10 times on the speakers and the keyboard close to it ,The macbook is working normaly till now and the speakers also are working as usual I guess, I’m really worried that there might be some damage that I can encounter later, my question is , How long should I wait to be relieved that nothing would happen ?
It's has been about 40 hours now since all of this happened and I used a lamp to heat the grills for about 30 mins, a fan too and used the vacuum cleaner one more time and so far I can't see any problem or malfunctioning but I'm still worried...


And also can you tell me if there is something else I should do ?
I live in Egypt and the Apple Retailers here are not professional at all and they take too much time and money to do any repair so that's not an option too


Sorry for the long post.


Thank you in advance.
 

Slydude

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I don't think there is really a good way to know when a problem will occur. Some liquid spills cause problems immediately and others don't show a problem immediately.
 
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I don't think there is really a good way to know when a problem will occur. Some liquid spills cause problems immediately and others don't show a problem immediately.

Do you think there is a good chance I might have saved it ?
 
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It could have been saved, or maybe not? You will never truly know. You may experience problems in two years, that may or may not stem from this incident.
 
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Should I try to open it up and check ? Do you recommend something ?

That is your call, as I don't know your ability level or what you're comfortable with? Here is the ifixit page for MBP models, find your specific model, size, and year and see if it's something you want to attempt?

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro
 

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Should I try to open it up and check ? Do you recommend something ?

As stated by Bob, it depends on whether or not you have the skills. There is really nothing inside of your 2017 TB MacBook Pro that can be disassembled. Everything is either micro soldered or glued down including the battery and keyboard. You may cause more damage by messing around inside of it. The lesson here is very simple and subtle: Never eat or drink around your computer. ;)
 
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As stated by Bob, it depends on whether or not you have the skills. There is really nothing inside of your 2017 TB MacBook Pro that can be disassembled. Everything is either micro soldered or glued down including the battery and keyboard. You may cause more damage by messing around inside of it. The lesson here is very simple and subtle: Never eat or drink around your computer. ;)

https://ibb.co/cNsj1K
What about this ? Can you confirm if this is true cause I only spilled it at the upper part of the grills
 

chscag

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We can't confirm anything. The only thing Bob and I are stating is in response to your question about opening up your machine and checking it.

Take a look here: www.ifixit.com
 
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Hey guys,

Just a quick post to let you know it's been over a year and a half since a little corrosion was found on my MBP's logic board after i spilled coke zero cuba libre all over its screen and half its keyboard, and... It's still working great, didn't do anything weird this whole time, like it never happened! Keeping my fingers crossed here...

Good luck to you all!

Edit : If you're in a spill emergency, go find my (pretty long) post on page 25 of this thread about what I did straight away and what you should probably do in other "spill configurations". It's really a recap of the 24 previous pages, stuff i read on other sites, and things i figured out for myself. Though I was obviously very fortunate with the way liquid spread into my laptop, the good people at Apple Care and the Apple Store all told me I couldn't have handled the situation better, so hopefully that post can keep you from making matters worse. Peace!
 
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chscag

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Good reminder to those folks who like to eat and drink around their computers. Thanks. ;D
 

pigoo3

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Thanks for the update Soham...and congrats on your MacBook Pro still going strong!:)

- Nick
 
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Thanks for everything chscag and Nick, including running this (oh, so helpful!) website. I know i can never rely on my Macbook Pro now, but am still real happy with how everything turned out for now. Have a good one !
 
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If you spill something on a computer that you spent around 3k+ to purchase, my advice would be to get acquainted with disassembling a modern macbook pro touch bar model. I'm sure it sounds like an intimidating task but if you watch a disassembly guide and slowly follow along you'd have your logic board removed from the top case in less than a couple of hours. I'd personally rather immediately address the damage, isolate and clean the areas before any corrosion sets in, and then sleep easy not having to worry about a small mound of mould growing inside of my Macbook. If you leave corrosion long enough it may eventually cause enough damage to where your board is not even repairable. The corrosion can exist on the board getting worse over time without having any affect on the functionality of the machine until it just won't power on one day.

If you look online you might even find someone who offers a service where they will disassemble your machine and clean it for you after it has been exposed to liquid. I can disassemble a 15 in ch touch bar in about 15 minutes so I would assume that you could find someone who would charge a reasonable $60-$100 to clean the board following exposure to liquids.
 

chscag

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The problem with most spills is not the mold or corrosion, it's the shorts and destruction of components on the logic board. You may be able to disassemble a 15" TB MacBook Pro in 15 minutes but unless you can do micro soldering and replace shorted components, it won't matter how fast you are. ;D
 
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Ok I have had my macbook pro for 2 years now. Until recently it was working fine but it started just randomly pushing keys down and turning my volume off without me touching any keys! I took it to Apple and they wanted to reboot the system and see if that fixed it and it didn't so I came back thinking I would need to get my keyboard replaced. Well when I took it in they said they found liquid in my macbook pro which means I need a tier 4 replacement which would cost me $750. I don't recall an incident where there was liquid spilled on it. Any help would be so nice!
 
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MBAmtloin

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Can you type?
is just the volume effected?
there are white marks on logic boards that indicate whether the Macbook experienced and liquid spills, did they explain that?
but
I would reset PRAM-SRAM and delete any programs keyboard-related because that stopped my macbook air from typing and full use of the keyboard. im trying to brainstorm what 3rd party programs can alter a macbook because i installed one years ago called Karabiner that embeds files in the OSX even after deleting the program. i forgot what the programs are, but a quick search can help you.
750$ seems steep and possible gouging on their part which i don't understand from apple, seem like they over charge for mundane repairs npw.
 
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Raz0rEdge

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Well it can't be liquid since that's not going to stay around with the heat of the machine. They might mean there was either residue, corrosion or damaged parts. If it wasn't damaged parts, then you should probably take the machine back and open things up and use some isopropyl alcohol and try to clean things up yourself. Look at the teardown info on iFixIt.com to know how to take things apart and then put it back together.

Even if you have AppleCare for the machine, liquid damage I believe is outside of what is covered.
 
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Ok I have had my macbook pro for 2 years now. Until recently it was working fine but it started just randomly pushing keys down and turning my volume off without me touching any keys! I took it to Apple and they wanted to reboot the system and see if that fixed it and it didn't so I came back thinking I would need to get my keyboard replaced. Well when I took it in they said they found liquid in my macbook pro which means I need a tier 4 replacement which would cost me $750. I don't recall an incident where there was liquid spilled on it. Any help would be so nice!

Hello Mileys.... - see that you've been a member for just two months - welcome to the forum! :) Of course, if you look back at the pages of this LONG thread, similar experiences are likely present. My first question is since you cannot remember a time when you may have spilled liquid on the laptop, was the device ever loaned/used by another person not in your presence? If not, was the computer ever exposed to a locale w/ high humidity (see that you live in Canada from your profile, so likely not an issue) for a period of time?

Below is Apple's take on 'liquid damage' (link given) - so not sure that you'll get any more advice except to pay an exorbitant cost; you might take the laptop to another authorized Apple dealer to see if the cost is less? Of course, the other option is to attempt a repair yourself (look up your model on the Ifixit Website) - I suspect a tedious and difficult job and expensive parts would have to be bought. Hopefully, others with more experience will 'chime in' and offer comments, but you may be stuck w/ a repair; hope that you have Time Machine and/or cloned backups? Good luck - Dave

Liquid damage to Mac computers and accessories not covered by warranty
Damage to Mac computers and accessories due to liquid exposure is not covered by the Apple One (1) Year Limited Warranty or the AppleCare Protection Plan (APP).

Current Mac notebook computers and Apple wired and wireless keyboards (except Magic Keyboard) have Liquid Contact Indicators (LCI) to help determine if these products have been exposed to liquid.Source
 
M

MBAmtloin

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RadDave, do you think the volume acting up on his 2017 macbook might be software or those faulty keyboard related?
 

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